Get Military Votes IN, Get them Counted

Originally Published: January, 2009


We live – and if we hope to avoid an untimely Darwinian end – We learn.


What we did
During the run-up to the 2008 elections, Count US In pressed hard for publicity for the issues of minuscule military voter participation and simplification of the voting process so that military voting could even occur. As the election cycle got closer, we pushed for Veterans, Friends, and Family to mobilize and assist military voters in getting properly registered, voting, and in the processing of those votes.


What actually happened
A well-meaning but naïve press ignored our pleas for publicity until just before and just after the elections in November 2008. At the last second, when it would least help our cause, the media saw a story with human interest and pathos – Our Military Can’t Vote. Their interest lasted about 45 days in all, and ended abruptly just past the election. Since we didn’t get the publicity we needed early enough, we were not as successful as we hoped in organizing our grass roots support effort of Veterans, Family and Friends, and were unable to provide all the support we wanted to servicemen who came to us for information on the voting process, local candidates, and local issues.


What we have learned
What we learned from the 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections, is that military voters are disenfranchised, and no effective effort is being undertaken to change that. (Witness Sen. Cornyn's bill's failure, the Florida debacle with military absentee votes in 2000, tossing out military absentee votes in two DC area counties of Virginia, and possibly more of the same in the recount in Minnesota).


We also learned that the media gives us play on the days before and after the elections (when it is least useful to the service members). We just feed them excitement for ratings, not for results.


What we’re going to do
We’re going to re-target. Our re-targeting effort will focus on amplifying our grass roots efforts. We need to help our troops participate under whatever system they face in their election districts—you need to vote where you live. And, we need to raise amazing amounts of hell at the local and State levels to get them to take extraordinary measures to count the votes of our servicemen and women. The system is flawed, there are lots of good people working on it, but it’s going to take time to move the bureaucracy off dead center. But, until then, the military still must vote to be heard!
We can’t organize this effort from the top down. We need a grass roots organization. So, here’s the plan. We’ll push for volunteers to be Election District Directors (EDD) – yes, we’ll come up with some other name for that post – don’t want any of the older vets thinking about some other dysfunction. All you gotta do to become one is raise that hand. These volunteers can raise $$ for Count US In within their districts, and we’ll try to use that to pay for things like mileage for EDDs (I know, change it).


Our goal is simple and clear – Get military votes in, then, get them counted.


The bottom line
Because of the low participation, the military vote is seen as inconsequential, so no one really cares about addressing the complex problems associated with straightening out the system. Yes, they pass laws which create more bureaucrats and do nothing to solve problems. Politicians just aren’t mission oriented – except for the mission of getting re-elected. You do the math. Do the party lawyers have a tendency (2000 in FL, 2004 in OH, 2008 in N VA and MN) to discount military absentee votes (from APO and FPO addresses)? Yes. But, there are so few votes that none of the parties really gives a damn.


So, for any politician to care about the military vote, we have to increase the number of votes. If we do that, one of the political parties will start to dance to your tune (whatever that is - I find I agree with soldiers much more often than I agree with lawyers). Mostly, politics is about money, but sometimes, the votes actually matter. In those cases, any bloc that delivers has power (examples - blacks, women, unions, the religious right—whatever). Just look at the party platforms and you can see how those voting blocs influence the party’s stand.


If the military voted, they'd have power. Unfortunately, they don't do either. They don’t vote, and therefore they don’t have power. Aren’t you ready to change that?


Can you become an EDD (yes, the name will change)?
Are you associated with a Veteran’s chapter that you are willing to recruit to our mission?
Do you know a soldier you want to help?
Want to help a relative who is in the service?
Count US In is “all in.”
The election of 2010 is just around the corner. To influence State legislatures in time to force improved legislation, we need to mobilize NOW! To be represented, our military needs power. To get power, they have to vote. To vote, our military needs your help.
We want to Count YOU In!
Volunteer, Donate, Call or Write. We need YOUR voice to be heard!
Ruck the Vote!!!
Don

Small Print
Don Johnson and Count US In want all our military personnel to exercise their right to vote, and we want their families, friends and other veterans to help motivate and facilitate those votes. Your comments, suggestions, donations, and input are welcome at www.countusin.us . Count US In doesn’t care how you vote – we just want you to vote – period.
If you are unfamiliar with the term Ruck the Vote, then you are a slacker and haven’t read all of Don’s rants. Feel free to take Don to task in the blog at the website if you feel motivated to do so (which is of course, the whole point, isn’t it?)

Comment from a reader...

Don
You are certainly on the right track and trying to do the right thing.
Our family has been concerned with this question for several years.
We are a very political family. Four years ago our, equally active and political, daughter married her high school sweetheart shortly after he enlisted in the Air Force.
Trying to do the right thing they both applied for absentee ballots for all elections.
Almost immediately problems started. The assistant to the County Clerk who handles early and absentee voting to me "I don't mail out military absentee ballots because so many of them do not come back." That is probably a confession of a Federal felony.
Thanks to our daughter, we have learned why most of those ballots, for stateside based personnel and their families, may not be returned. To mail one back requires almost $2.00 postage.
First, this may be a violation of civil rights laws that prohibit requiring a citizen to pay to vote.
Second, it is a lot of money and many people do not have extra postage lying around.
Third, it often is not possible for military personnel to get access to postage.
Example, yesterday (Oct. 4, 2008) our son-in-law (Staff Sergeant USAF) was sent for desert/combat training in some God forsaken spot in Kansas preparatory to his deployment to Afghanistan. BTW, his third deployment. First, Iraq; second, Kuwait. No postage handy there.
So, our family being good citizens, we decided to do a little something about this.
My wife passed the hat and collected funds from members of her Twin Lakes Republican Women's Club of Baxter County, Arkansas.
I wrote a letter and printed many copies. My wife got a list of stateside military and sent the letter, with postage to the entire list. We encouraged the men and women to use the postage to return their ballot.
This is but a band-aid on a large problem.
What we want to do is fix the problem. But, now, our problem is finding where to start. We do not know who to address. Is it the Department of Defense; Postal Service; Congress; President; who?
The current situation is not right or American. No one should be denied the opportunity to vote. Most especially our military personnel.
Regards,
Frank G. Fusco (veteran USAF)
Mountain Home, Arkansas

He's not just President, He's your next boss

Originally published: August, 2008

OK, I’ll admit, I was drinking beer.

Here’s the setting – B concourse at Reagan Airport in DC, eating fish and chips (with waaaay too much garlic), and drinking some really good 20 oz beers. I’m hard into some people watching and the watching is great. Lots of very inappropriate muffin tops, several weird little pseudo-dogs in foo-foo outfits, and your usual heavyweights (man, are we putting on some weight, or what?)

In the midst of my people watching, I see this older guy stumbling a bit as he comes down the concourse. The old guy is wearing a t-shirt that says USAF, and there is a big guy with him who is obviously his son. The son looks like a slacker. I watch them go up to California Tortilla and order. The son pays, then does some of the condiment things for his dad. I reserve judgment on slacker-boy for the moment.

Now, getting off a flight and moving up the concourse, is a group of four real low-lifes. They have those goofy Capri pants on, flip flops, and buzz cuts. I pick them as some sort of counter-culture guys right away. Then, to my total amazement – right in front of me, they fall into a rank, and they all do a “pass-in-review” high five for some kid being wheeled down the concourse in a wheelchair. Apparently the kid can’t talk, but he sure can high five, and he smacks every hand the slackers hold out – all the while smiling like he was gonna bust his face. Then, the slackers turn and walk up the concourse and I notice they are all wearing digital camouflage day packs with name tapes on them. They are clearly soldiers, and I hastily and humbly revise my assessment.

So I get on my plane to Ft Lauderdale. I was a bit late because I was trying to brush the garlic out of my mouth (total waste of time). I get to my seat, and find I’m sitting next to USAF and his slacker son. Slacker son doesn’t waste any time and asks if I know anything about Ft Lauderdale – to which I respond in the affirmative. By the time we’re at cruising altitude, I learn that slacker kid paints cars in Maryland, and his dad hasn’t been doing too well since a mild stroke. So, slacker kid is taking his dad on a cruise – something USAF dad has wanted to do all his life. Seems slacker kid grew up all over the world like a typical military brat of his day, and thought he owed his dad something now that he was doing so well painting cars. Seems like the kid inherited a good bit of sense for what is right from his career USAF dad.

So what’s my point?
Simple.
Military folks do the right thing.

Yes, there are guys in the military who cheat on their wives. There are unhappy families and unhappy kids. Some guys get in trouble, and we’ve all done things we aren’t so damn proud of at some time or another.

But in general, military people are spring-loaded to do the right thing. Their moral compass points to within a few degrees either side of magnetic north, and they know which end of the pointer is the one that counts. Sure, we don’t always follow the arrow, but military folks get it right most of the time.

Because of that, I trust your judgment – and so do the overwhelming majority of your fellow Americans. But you are doing me, yourself, and all those admirers a huge disservice if you don’t express that judgment by voting. Your country wants you to exercise that higher level of judgment they credit you for, and express your opinion on the candidates that are running for elective office this year and every year. Historically, you do poorly in that regard (and yes, in my time, I admit I was a huge slacker on voting). But you are a new breed of military – as professional and upright as any the world has ever known – and much better informed and connected. And you need to do the right thing now. I challenge you to get informed about candidates and issues, and cast an informed vote.

Count US In is dedicated to finding out the information you need to get you to cast an informed vote. We’ll call on the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and even Veteran’s motorcycle clubs. We’ll use the vast resources of the League of Women’s Voters. We’ll enlist the aid of your local elections supervisor, who in most cases is looking for some way to contact you anyhow.

Yes, literally thousands of volunteers are standing by to help you find out about the race for School Board in the district where you are registered, but haven’t set foot in for the last 18 months. Don’t smirk – that School Board position is very important to the future or your kids. So is the position of Commander-in-Chief, and if you’ve been paying attention to AFRTS, you probably know that seat if up for grabs in November as well.

Other people in the US are electing a President.
You’re electing your next boss.

But the process is confusing and you have other priorities. I understand that. But there is no shame in asking for a bit of help when you’re otherwise occupied with issues of equal or higher priority (such as survival). Come on. You wouldn’t fly an airplane without a checklist. You wouldn’t go on patrol without checking you buddy’s gear for him. You wouldn’t strap on a parachute without a JMPI. Hell, you don’t take a dump without someone covering your shiny fourth point of contact. So why the hell are you trying to do this voting thing on your own?

Let Count US In help. Send us a note, drop us a Tweet (@militaryvote). Tell us where you vote, and we’ll get some folks to push you info and run things down for you. We’ve got you covered on this side.

Your vote is your voice. Speak up.
Ruck the Vote!!!
Don

No Dog in this fight?

Originally published: April 15th, 2008

I was listening to a buddy talk about the primaries this last week. He’s a reservist here in Ft Lauderdale and was a Giuliani supporter. But, by the time the primaries got around to Florida, he’d switched to some other guy who dropped out too. Now he’s got to decide whether to vote for McCain or whoever wins the fight on the other side. His top two guys didn’t make it, so he said to me, “I’ve really got no dog in this fight.”

So, there I was flying somewhere – Middle seat, knee caps pressed firmly into the seat ahead, some five year old soccer player kicking the back of mine, and of course, the mom traveling with her squirmy/screamy one year old beside me (“Sir. I hope you don’t mind if I change Junior’s diaper right here. It’s so unsanitary in the restroom. Don’t you think?”).

Thinking about the upcoming presidential race was actually an improvement. At first, I was thinking along the lines of my buddy. “No dog in this fight”. But who is the “no dog” candidate? I even considered not voting at all, for a second (how hypocritical would that be – me asking you to vote, and not doing it myself – I might as well be a damn lawyer).

But I had an epiphany (look it up). Right there, between the tattoo on the back of my seat (the kid will grow up to be a clogger on that Irish thing, Stomp), the guy in front leaning his seat back (I think the right knee cap is actually cracked), the stewardess (yes, I’m that old) handing me my coffee at the same time the mom asks “Sir. Would you mind holding this dirty diaper a moment?” Yes my brothers and sisters, sitting right there in coach, with a crappy coffee in one hand, and a similar diaper in the other – I had a moment of absolute and stunning clarity.

I most certainly do have a dog in this fight – and so does every one of you.

It’s YOU – our American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen.

You are THE dog in this fight.

Now, as a member of the US Military, no matter where you’re stationed, what you do, or branch of service – you know something about fighting, and you’ve heard all the old saws.
Dress appropriately. Never to take a knife to a gunfight.
Use all the resources at hand because they can’t help you from that shelf.
There are only two places in a fight, and second place is unacceptable.

Well, in this seemingly endless election fight – and you are definitely in this fight – you need to bring the right weapons, use all your resources, and you absolutely, must, definitely, WIN.

- In this fight, your vote is the right weapon.
- Your brains will find you the resources you need.
(I humbly recommend Count US In at www.countusin.us)
- And if you don’t vote, we’re gonna lose this fight.

It doesn’t matter one bit to me, who you vote for. But when you vote, and you MUST VOTE, you make a profound and serious statement. Millions of American veterans, I among them, know you better than we know our own families, and because we know you so well, we trust your judgment above all others. We’ve got our money on you, and we know you won’t let us down.

Ruck the Vote!!!
Don

Small Print
Don Johnson and Count US In want all our military personnel to exercise their right to vote, and we want our veterans to help motivate and facilitate in that regard. Your comments, suggestions, donations, and input are welcome at info@countusin.us .

If you are unfamiliar with the term Ruck the Vote, then you are a slacker and haven’t read Don’s last rant. Feel free to take Don to task in the blog at the website if you feel motivated to do so (which is of course, the whole point, isn’t it?)

Making Every Vote Count

Originally written: December, 2007
Making Every Vote Count

I got an appointment with my local elections supervisor here in Ft Lauderdale Florida, Dr. Brenda C Snipes. The purpose of my visit (a month or so ago), was to tell her about Count US In, and to elicit some information from her on how Broward County handled absentee balloting. In a nutshell, I was impressed.

Broward County was one of the Florida counties that didn’t do right by our military voters in the 2000 national election. I’ve posted some links below that explain what happened for those of you who want a bit more info. The info comes from a guy named Capt. Samuel F. Wright, JAGC, USNR. . I’ve spoken to him, and read some of his work. I found him most credible—a retired military attorney who still practices law and still carries on the work of counting the military vote.

But I don’t think we still have the problem of votes not being counted, at least not here in Broward County--at least not on Dr Snipes’ watch. Dr Snipes runs a tight ship even though she is pretty new to the election front. She was appointed to replace a supervisor who was fired, then was elected in her own right in 2004?. Taking point on absentee voting in Broward County is Mary Hall. Mary is a military spouse, and has relatives in the Navy now, so she has more than a little understanding of the problems the military faces in getting their votes in, and getting them counted--quite a respectable showing for our team here in this little part of the world.

Everything the two said during our visit was spot on. They want your votes. They take extraordinary care to ensure it gets processed properly, and they want to facilitate the exercise of your civic duty. I don’t know if other local election commissions have the same level of professionalism—and if they do, we want to hear about it. If they don’t, we’d like to help them.. But, for those of you who sent your votes in to Broward County, either by mail or fax (Broward doesn’t use email yet—only a handful of states do and only 25 use fax), you can be sure its going to be counted.

Now a word or two for those of you who didn’t vote: What the hell were you thinking?
America wants to know where you stand while you’re standing out there in the trenches, defending this, and other countries’ right to vote.

Don’t let us down on this. Count US In is dedicated to making sure your vote counts, and in the case of Broward County Florida, it does. We are developing an organization to check up on all the election commissions in the country, and we will keep after them.

Angelina Jolie determines troop surge is working!

Originally published: March, 2008

I’ve got some good news to pass on to you. If you haven’t heard this already, I’m sure it will give you a boost.

FLASH – Angelina Jolie has determined that The Surge is Working.

Yes, my brothers and sisters, your work is finally validated.

Of course, you would suppose that Ms. Jolie came to that decision after spending a lot of time with our troopers in Iraq – while they engaged the local leadership; trained and supported the Iraqi military and police; developed relationships with small businesses and in communities; and through the force of their message, trustworthiness, and conviction, have gotten the Iraqi population to close the door on the insurgents.

Well, that’s not the case, as far as this observer can tell. Actually, from her statements, it seems that she came to her evaluation through assessing that humanitarian organizations and NGOs were now more able to perform their work in Iraq. Well yes, I agree. The fact that these important organizations can now function is important, and symptomatic of marked improvement in Iraq.

I’m sure you’re as happy as I am, that the seemingly endless labors of the US brotherhood of arms has finally passed the “Hollywood” acid test. Forget the fact that American service members are providing the same heavy lifting so humanitarian organizations can do their good works in dozens of countries, on four continents every day. What more important validation could you possibly have, than that of someone who’s on the cover of every magazine at the grocery store checkout, and stars in the Tomb Raider movies? Well, the truth is, that Ms. Jolie is a real “get out and get dirty” humanitarian activist. What she says carries tremendous weight with that grocery store magazine crowd, and probably runs contrary to the views of the magazine publishing crowd.

I know you don’t need to be told the surge is working. I know you’ve been surging for better than three years. I know the most important humanitarian organization in Iraq has been plugging away there without recognition for years. I know this humanitarian organization has been doing the heavy lifting every day, and is directly responsible for creating the current environment without which, none of the other organizations could function. I know that organization is the US military as personified by every single service member who has been there.

Yes, the most important and effective Humanitarian Organization in Iraq – is YOU – the individual members of the United States Armed Forces. And not one of you needs the validation of anyone but the man or woman next to you, and the people you protect back home.

But thanks just the same, AJ.
Your heart’s in the right place.

Carry On.

Don Johnson, LTC USA (Ret), writes voting related commentary for Count US In whenever something in the political process motivates him to pull his fourth-point-of-contact up off his Barc-a-Lounger. You can find other examples of his commentary at info@countusin.us in the “Listen Up” section. Count US In also has a blog, and you can take Don to task there, if you wish.

We want photos of our Troops voting!

Originally published: January 2008

If You’re Voting, Help Me.

I want a photo of you sitting on your tank, holding an absentee ballot that you’re about to drop off at the APO. OK, it doesn’t have to be a tank. I just want a few photos of service members holding some voting materials.

Count US In needs the photos. Count US In is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to getting more military personnel to participate in the voting process. This organization was started by a group of retirees, and we want your photos to use in a publicity campaign to get more of the military to vote.

Here’s the problem: Not many military personnel vote. Some don’t vote because they don’t have faith in the absentee voting system. They don’t think their votes will make it to the right place, or they don’t think their votes get counted. Some don’t vote because they don’t know the candidates. Some get lost in the absentee voting system. Some can’t make time.

What a crock. We need your help to get these troopers off their asses and get them involved in the voting process.

So, we’ll show some photos of military voters, and use the publicity to motivate others to vote. We’re also working to get some election supervisors to ceremonially register a military absentee ballot to officially open the vote count in their districts.

Why is this so important to Count US In?
Simply put, our country needs to hear military voices. You speak your minds through your ballots. Your opinions are important to Count US In, and to our country. Of course, military personnel who don’t vote are saying something too. They’re saying they don’t give a damn. We all know that’s not the case, so please help us get the rest of the force to vote.

DB Johnson
USA (Ret)